With a 72-82 record and eight games left in the season, the M’s no longer have a chance even it up to .500. They’re 8-13 since the beginning of September, and though they won their most recent series against Boston, Toronto and Texas, they haven’t exactly finished out the season strong.

But after going 36-51 to start the year, Seattle is 36-31 since the All-Star Break. The Mariners have also gone on a few winning streaks — seven games in late July and eight games in mid August. And they are a markedly better team than the 2011 Mariners, even though their offensive numbers again rank them in the basement of the MLB.

As of Wednesday, before the day’s games, the M’s were 29th out of 30 teams in runs (577) and slugging percentage (.366), and were dead last in batting average (.233) and on-base percentage (.294). That’s similar to Seattle’s rankings at the end of last season.

But when you look at the pitching numbers, it’s a different story. The M’s were ranked third overall in WHIP (1.23), seventh in batting-average against (.246), eighth in ERA (3.72) and 14th in quality starts (83). (WHIP stands for walks plus hits per inning pitched.) Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas and the Seattle bullpen — particularly Tom Wilhelmsen, Oliver Perez and Charlie Furbush — ought to take credit for that.